The Daughter of a Legend
by socialgal5
Summary: When Livy and Callen's daughter, Emma, joins NCIS, she goes to D.C to be on McGee's team. Her new partner is Leroy "Lee" DiNozzo, Tony and Ziva's son. Will romance bloom between the two?
1. Chapter 1

**EMMA'S POV:**

Today was the day. After twenty-eight years of education, training, and hard work, I was now official an NCIS agent. Unlike my brother, and my parents before him, I had not chosen to work for the OSP branch of NCIS. Undercover work wasn't exactly my style, and I felt that I would do better as just an investigator.

So, after completing college by age twenty-two, I had spent six years in the Navy, and then finally been accepted to NCIS. Special Agent McGee, an old-friend of my parents, had a spot open on his team, and he had gladly taken me onto his team.

Now, as I walked into the NCIS headquarters building, I felt nervous and anxious. What if I made a terrible agent, especially after my parents had been such wonderful undercover operatives? Would my new teammates like me? Would my boss be hard to get along with? Would he be tough on me, the probie?

When I got into the building, I went upstairs to the Director's office. Paul Ware had been the director of NCIS for the past ten years, ever since Leon Vance retired. He was an older man with strict policies and no sense of humor.

"My name is Emma Callen," I introduced myself to the secretary. " I have an appointment with Director Ware."

"He's ready for you," the secretary told me. "Go on in."

Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door.

"Come in," a deep voice told me.

I twisted the door handle and walked inside. Director Ware was sitting behind a desk, looking down at some papers on his desk.

"Agent Callen, I presume," he said without even looking up.

"Yes, sir," I replied quietly. "I was told to report to you first thing."

Director Ware looked up. "That's right. Now, if you'll follow me, I'll introduce you to your team leader."

I followed the director downstairs, and he led me to into a nearby bullpen that had four desks. Two of them were occupied by men. One of the men was older, and slightly on the heavier side. I guessed that he was the team leader, Special Agent McGee, but I couldn't be certain. The other man was younger—about Sam's age—with dark brown hair, a slightly dark complexion, and dark, smoldering eyes. He looked so familiar, and I felt certain that I knew him from somewhere. In fact, I felt as if he was an old friend.

"Emma, this is Special Agent Timothy McGee, your team leader," Director Ware introduced me to the older man, who stood up and smiled, extending his hand.

"Welcome to the team, Emma. It's a pleasure to have you here. Your parents are good friends of mine," he told me.

"Thank you for accepting me, sir," I replied, shaking his hand firmly.

"This is Special Agent Lee DiNozzo," my boss told me, gesturing the handsome young man who had stood up.

"Lee?" I knew that I knew him! He was Tony and Ziva's son, who I had played with several times as a child.

"How are you, Emma?" Lee wanted to know, giving me a warm hug.

"I'm great! How have you been? It's been years since I've seen you!" I declared.

"You two know each other?" Director Ware asked us.

"Yes, sir," Lee replied. "Our parents were good friends when we were growing up. We played together a good bit as kids."

"Touching," the director remarked dryly. "Good luck, Ms. Callen."

When the director was gone, my boss told me that I could sit at the desk across from Agent DiNozzo, so I put my box of stuff and my backpack down on the desk.

"So, Emma, how's Sam?" Lee wanted to know.

"He's good," I told my old friend. "He's working with OSP now."

"Hmm…Just like your dad, huh?"

"Well, he's better at undercover work than I am. I guess he got his skills from Dad."

"Yeah, G Callen is pretty famous." Lee shook his head with admiration, propping his feet up on his desk. "I'll bet having the same last name'll be lucky for you."

"Well, what about you?" I asked, putting my five favorite pens in a cup on my desk. "You're named after Uncle Jethro and your dad, right?"

"That's right," Lee told me. "Leroy Anthony DiNozzo. Fortunately, it has been shortened to Lee."

Before either of us could speak again, our boss's phone rang loudly and he answered it quickly.

"Yeah, McGee," he spoke into the telephone. He listened for a few seconds, and then put the phone down. "Gear up!" he told us. "We've got a dead sailor!"

_**Okay, so tell me what you think…this is just a start. Should I continue?**_


	2. Chapter 2

**LEE'S POV:**

When we got to the crime scene, Emma pulled on her NCIS windbreaker and cap, and grabbed her crime scene kit.

"First crime scene?" I asked her, zipping up my jacket.

"Yeah," she replied. "First real crime scene, at least."

"Hope you didn't eat a big breakfast," I told her, walking towards the scene.

Emma ducked underneath the yellow tape, took one look at the bloody, mutilated body, and then she ran toward the nearest tree, sick to her stomach from the sight.

"I warned you," I called to her, shaking my head and smiling; Probies were all the same.

"Lee, check on her," McGee told me sternly. "Now!"

"On it, Boss!"

I walked over to where Emma was leaning against a tree-trunk.

"I'm fine!" she insisted heatedly. "I just need a minute."

Leaning against the tree trunk myself, I ran my fingers through my hair. "You know, at my first crime scene, I threw up three times," I admitted.

"Really?" Emma looked up at me quickly. Then, she shook her head. "I should have a stronger stomach. My parents were good at this, so I have to be too."

"Yeah, it's hard living up to their expectations, isn't it?" I folded my arms across my chest. "I know all about that."

Emma finally straightened up. "Thanks for being nice, Lee. I think I'll be okay now."

**EMMA'S POV:**

I pulled on a pair of latex gloves, took a deep breath, and walked back to the crime scene bravely. Agent McGee instructed me to take crime scene photos, so I pulled the expensive camera out of its case and began snapping photos from every possible angle.

"Jimmy's here!" Lee announced, sketching the crime scene carefully.

"Who's Jimmy?" I wanted to know.

"Jimmy Palmer is our medical examiner," Lee explained. "You'll like him. He's a likeable guy."

The M.E. was accompanied by a younger man who with big, nerdy glasses and shaggy blonde hair, and I assumed that he was Palmer's assistant.

Jimmy looked down at the body. He, like the rest of us, could see that the twenty-three-year old Petty Officer Benjamin Thompson was a handsome young man who had been brutally murdered.

I continued snapping photos as Palmer pulled out a liver probe and stuck it directly into the victim's abdomen. I nearly gagged again when I saw how easily the probe slid into the victim's body.

"Time of death, Palmer?" McGee asked, scribbling notes on his pad.

"I'd say about seven or eight hours, but I'll know better when I cut him open," Jimmy replied.

"What do you think killed him?" Lee wanted to know.

"Well, he has been sliced and diced pretty bad," I pointed out. "Could be blood loss, right?"

"The true cause of death is often masked by superficial wounds," Jimmy told me. "Anyways, who are you?"

"Jimmy, this is Special Agent Emma Callen. She's the new probie," Lee told the M.E.

"Wait, you're Livy and Callen's daughter, aren't you?" Palmer asked me.

"Yes, sir, that's right." I smiled at him, and he extended his hand, which was covered in the victim's blood.

I swallowed hard. "Um, how about we shake hands later?" I suggested.

**LEE'S POV:**

Later that evening, after we had finished work for the day, I noticed that Livy was digging through her purse for her keys.

"Hey, we should go get a bite to eat tonight," I suggested. "You know, sort of a 'welcome-to-the-team' dinner." To be honest, I already had plans, but I would reschedule them if it meant taking out the beautiful blonde.

"Oh!" Emma bit her lip a little. "I wish I could, but I've already got somewhere to go. I'm sorry," she apologized. "What if we go out tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's great," I agreed easily, trying to pretend as if I didn't mind that she was already occupied.

"Goodnight," she told me cheerfully. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," I called after her.

Emma Callen was definitely a blonde bombshell. She was tall and slim, with shining hair that hung down to the middle of her back. Her piercing blue eyes didn't to miss a thing, and I knew that if I wasn't careful, she would completely bewitch me.

**EMMA'S POV:**

I swung by my new apartment quickly and changed out of my work clothes into a pair of denim shorts and a purple t-shirt. Just before I headed out again, I draped a yellow scarf around my neck loosely and slipped a pair of brown cowboy boots on.

When I got to the harbor, it took me a few minutes to find Uncle Jethro's berth, but I finally saw the "Kelly" in Berth Number 769.

"Uncle J?" I called, stepping onto the boat carefully.

"I'm up here," he called from the bow. "Come on around."

Uncle Jethro's sailboat was larger and spacious, and I saw that he was grilling on a small grill on the bow.

"Hey, Uncle Jethro!" I greeted him, giving the older man a warm hug. He kissed my cheek affectionately.

"Look at you," he laughed. "A genuine NCIS agent,huh?"

I let out a deep breath. "Yeah. I got to see my first crime scene today, and I lost my breakfast," I admitted. "That really wasn't the way I wanted to start my day."

"You'll be fine.

"I'm not sure, Uncle J. What if I don't have the same skills as my parents? What if I'm not as good an agent as they both were?"

"You'll be fine," Uncle Jethro assured me, handing me a beer out of the cooler.

"Uncle Jay?" a familiar voice called from the stern.

"Wait!" I exclaimed. "Is that…" I looked around the mast and saw Lee DiNozzo stepping onto the boat.

"Oh, yeah, I invited Lee for supper, too," Uncle Jethro told me.


	3. Chapter 3

**EMMA'S POV:**

It made sense that Uncle Jethro had invited Lee to dinner as well. After all, my parents were just as close to former Special Agent Gibbs as Lee's parents, Tony and Ziva, were.

We all sat around the bow, eating the steaks that Uncle Jethro had cooked. He didn't have anything with them, except for plenty of cold beer.

"So, Emma, how are your parents enjoying their retirement so far?" Uncle Jethro asked me. "I'm sure enjoying mine."

"They're happy," I told him. "They hang out with Sam and his wife, Kensi, a lot." Then, I turned to Lee. "What are your parents doing nowadays?" I wanted to know.

"Well, Dad is working with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center here in D.C. He trains the new NCIS agents," Lee explained. "And Mom teaches hand-to-hand combat there, as well."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Wow. I thought they were retiring."

"Not exactly," Lee laughed.

"So, how's McGee as a team leader?" Uncle Jethro asked us. "Has he smacked you on the back of the head yet?"

"He did it to me yesterday," Lee admitted.

"Not to me," I declared. "But it's probably coming."

**LEE'S POV:**

That night, Emma and I both left at the same time because we both had a busy day at work ahead of us on the morrow. We walked through the harbor together, and I couldn't help but admire the grace with which she carried herself. She stood tall and confident, as if the world couldn't possible intimidate her. Her long legs were accentuated by a deep tan and the boots that she was wearing.

When I finally made it back to my vehicle, I shook my head, trying to get rid of the attraction I felt towards my new partner. We worked together, and I needed to keep a strictly professional outlook on my job, especially when the director was so strict on agency policies, employee fraternization more than anything else.

**EMMA'S POV:**

I sat in my car for somewhere between ten and fifteen minutes, trying to figure out what was wrong with me? Why had I noticed that Lee's dark eyes seemed to smolder every time he looked at me? Why had I noticed that, underneath his burnt orange polo, his arms were exceedingly muscular? Why had I noticed that his chest muscles were accentuated by the fabric stretched tightly across his upper torso.

Lee was a family friend, and now he was my NCIS partner. I refused to be attracted to him, no matter how strong the pull was. No, I had to be strong—I had to resist by all possible means.

On the next day, I arrived at work to find Agent McGee already there, but Agent DiNozzo wasn't.

"Good morning, Boss," I greeted Agent McGee, setting my cup of tea down on my desk.

"Good morning, Emma. How are you?" he asked me.

"I'm good, sir," I replied, putting my gun and badge in my desk drawer.

"Very unique Agent Lee DiNozzo is in the house," Lee announced, emerging from the elevator. "Good morning, team."

"Morning," both the boss and I replied at the same time.

Lee stopped in front of my desk and handed me a paper bag. "I stopped by Krispy Kreme today, and I happened to remember that you loved their doughnuts as a kid, so I thought I'd bring you one."

I took the bag in surprise, touched by the gesture, and amazed that he had remembered. "Oh! Thank you!" I peeked into the bag and saw two Original Glaze Krispy Kreme doughnuts. "They smell incredible."

**LEE'S POV:**

I didn't know why I brought Emma doughnuts, but I had. I couldn't explain it, but I had stopped solely for the purpose of buying her two.

I had only been in the office for three minutes when we got a call from the forensic scientist, Abby. She wanted us down in her lab right away.

When Emma saw Abby, she didn't hesitate to hug the Gothic woman warmly. "Oh, it has been way to long since I saw you, Emma!" Abby declared. "I think you had just graduated from college and joined the Navy."

"You joined the Navy?" I was surprised. "No one had ever told me that Emma had been in the military."

"Yep," she replied. "I served for six years, because I figured it would look good on my resume when I tried to join NCIS."

"So, Abby, what did you find?" McGee asked, interrupting.

Abby turned to the computers behind her. "Well, I found a partial print on the knife that was left at the scene, so I ran that through every database."

"And?" McGee looked at Abby expectantly.

"I got nothing," she told him.

McGee sighed. "Couldn't you have told me that over the phone?"

"Have a little faith, Timmy. I didn't say that I didn't find anything!" Abby turned back to the computer, giving McGee an evil glare. "I found two samples of blood on the knife blade. It turns out that our killer cut himself while he was slicing and dicing on Petty Officer Thompson."

"Abby, did you get a match?" Lee asked, losing patience with the scientist.

"I sure did," she replied proudly, slapping a sticky note on McGee's tie. "Name and most recent address for the Boss man."

"Thank you, Abby," McGee said, kissing her cheek lightly.

As I turned to walk out of the room, I caught sight of several photographs taped to Abby's desk. "Hey!" I exclaimed. "You were supposed to get rid of that one!" I pointed to the picture of me at age twelve. I was wearing my ballet costume, and the picture had been taken after my recital of Swan Lake.

"Is that you?" Lee wanted to know, peering curiously down at the picture. "Wow!"

I smacked him on the back of the head, and then I turned to Abby. "I told you to get rid of that picture. I hate ballet, remember?"

"But you were so good, remember?"

I shook my head adamantly. "I don't dance anymore, Abs. Never again."

**LEE'S POV:**

I wasn't sure why Emma had gotten all bent out of shape over one simple photograph, but Abby just raised her eyebrows at me. I was going to ask her what Emma's problem was, but McGee called to me before I had a chance to.

"Let's go, Junior."

"Boss, please don't call me 'Junior," I pleaded.

Timothy McGee, my boss, had worked with my dad, Tony, when he first joined NCIS. I had the feeling that Dad had always given McGee a hard time, and now my boss liked to call me "Junior" because he said I was an exact replica of my dad.

We all headed down to autopsy after visiting Abby's lab and, when we went inside, I saw Emma turn her head away from the body, covering her mouth and nose. Palmer had the victim's chest cut open with the flesh pulled back to reveal all of the internal organs.

"Oh my God," Emma muttered, trying to face the gruesome sight again.

"Have you ever seen an autopsy?" I whispered into her hear.

"I missed that day of training," she admitted. Then, bravely, she walked closer to the table and stared down at the body like she was looking at paperwork.

"Hmm," I thought to myself. "This girl's got guts."


	4. Chapter 4

**EMMA'S POV:**

Our Boss sent Lee and me to pick up the suspect. I let Lee drive the Dodge Charger, and we arrived in no time at all.

"You ready for this?" Lee asked me. "There's no telling what we might run in to."

I pulled my jacket back and showed him my holstered Glock. "I'm ready. Besides, I was the best shot on the range in FLETCE."

"I like a girl that knows how to aim straight," I teased her as we made our way up the walk.

We knocked on the front door of the small, run-down house and nobody came to the door. I knocked again, someone forcefully this time and, to my surprise, it swung open easily.

Lee nodded silently at me, and we both pulled our weapons. Out of habit, Lee ducked inside first, looking all around for anyone. I darted in after him and, while he searched the living room, I searched the dining room and then ducked into the kitchen. That's where the gruesome sight met me.

"Lee!" I called, holstering my weapon. "I found our suspect.

Our suspect, Stuart Hanson, was lying dead on the kitchen floor. His throat had been methodically cut from ear to ear, and he had bled out right there on the linoleum.

"Looks as if somebody got to him before we did, or else he committed suicide," Lee speculated, pulling out his phone to call McGee.

"Nope, it's not a suicide," I declared. "Look, the gash is deepest on the left side, so whoever killed him was right handed." I pointed to the spoon that was still tightly clasped in Hanson's left hand. "It wasn't suicide."

"Excellent work, Sherlock," Lee teased. "You'll make a first rate investigator. Mark my words!"

**LEE'S POV:**

Emma was right. Jimmy declared the death a homicide, and promptly loaded the body up onto the gurney.

"Good call, probie," I told her as we walked back outside.

An hour before it was time to leave work, I remembered my promise to take Emma out after we got off.

"So, Emma, where do you want to go tonight?" I asked her, running a search for known associates of the man we had found murdered earlier that day.

"Well, I don't know. I'm not familiar with this area. Where is somewhere good to get a bite to eat?"

"Well, I know a great little pub that serves the best hamburger in the city," I told her. "And they have a wide selection of beer."

"That sounds good," Emma agreed. "A hamburger and fries will hit the spot, I think."

Just before seven o'clock, Emma grabbed her backpack and headed to the bathroom. When she returned ten minutes later, she had changed her work-appropriate blouse to a form-fitting v-neck white top that fit her perfectly and highlighted her attractive figure. Her long blonde hair, which had been swept up in a ponytail all day had been let down and was framing her face beautifully.

"Wow," I thought to myself. "Is she trying to lure me in?"

We left promptly at seven after telling our boss goodnight. He never looked up from his computer, but he did nod and wave at us.

"So," I began as we stepped into the elevator. "Do you want to drive separately, or would you care to ride with me?"

"I can ride with you," Emma said. "If you don't mind bringing me by here afterwards to pick up my car."

"Not a problem."

**EMMA'S POV:**

Lee's car fit his personality perfectly—he drove a shiny black 2010 Camero with leather interior.

"How do you afford this car on our salary?" I wanted to know. "Oh, sorry. That wasn't very polite."

Lee laughed. "It's okay. Well, my grandfather bought this for me when I turned eighteen."

"Your dad's father or you mom's dad?"

"My mom's. Apparently, he and my mother don't have anything to do with, but he had this car shipped over on my birthday. It was quite a surprise."

"Isn't your grandfather with…"

"He's with Mossad," Lee finished quickly. "I've never even met him. What about you? Are you close to your grandparents?"

"Well, my mom's dad is dead, and Daddy never even knew his father. He grew up in foster homes, you know."

"Yeah. Dad says he only has an initial and a last name. Is that true?" Lee asked, pulling out of the parking deck

I nodded. "It is. But I think if we ever found out his real name, it would be the same as calling him G. I've wondered what it stands for. Greg? Gary? Gerald? Nothing seems to fid Daddy like G."

Fifteen minutes later, Lee pulled into the parking lot of Wayne's Bar and Grill. Besides Lee' s Camero, there were only about four other cars in the lot.

"This place has yet to be discovered," Lee told me, seeing the doubt in my face. "Trust me, though. It's really, really good."

We sat at a small table for two, and the waitress came up and took our order right away. Lee ordered a beer, but I opted for a sweet tea instead.

"I'd rather not drink on a school night," I told him. "Last night with Uncle J was the exception because beer is all the man has."

Dinner was the most natural thing I had ever done. Lee and I talked back and forth, the conversation never lagging once. We laughed over old times, and talked about the future.

"So, are you looking forward to your days as my partner?" he asked me, smiling flirtatiously.

"I don't know," I replied just as coyly. "Do I have good things to look forward to?"

"Always," Lee assured me. "Heck, my mom and dad were partners and look where they ended up!"

"They married!" I reminded him, not sure if he was entirely sober after two beers.

"I know," he replied seriously. "Do you think there is any chance that you and I might end up together?"

I swallowed hard. He was bold! "Well, I don't know," I said uncertainly. Then, I decided to tease him about it. "No, I don't think that it's even a remote possibility."

"Yeah, me neither," Lee agreed quickly.

That night, when I got back to my apartment, I closed the door behind me and let out a deep breath. What was happening here? I had been flirting with my partner, and he had been flirting with me! We shouldn't be doing that!

I needed to talk to someone, so I called the one of the few people that I could always count on. My mom.

"Hey, sweetheart, how are you?" Mama asked me, answering the call.

"I'm good. How about you? Is Daddy okay?"

"He's good. He tried to surf this afternoon, and it was a hoot! I wish you could have been here."

I felt a sharp stab of homesickness, and loneliness. I missed my family and my old home terribly. "I wish I could've seen it," I told her, tears filling my eyes.

"So, what is going on there? Do you like D.C.?" Mama wanted to know.

"Well, it's okay. But, I have a little bit of a problem."

"What is it?"

"Well, Lee DiNozzo is my partner on Agent McGee's team," I began.

"Really?" Mama exclaimed. "He's about the same age as you, right? Is he as handsome as his father?"

I sighed, melting inwardly at the thought of Lee's suave good looks. "Oh yes! But, that's the problem!"

Mama was quiet for a moment. "Emma, are you attracted to your partner?" she asked me finally.

"Yes," I admitted. "Very, very attracted to him."


	5. Chapter 5

**LEE'S POV:**

My mind was awhirl with thoughts after I dropped Emma off in the NCIS parking deck. She was perfect; I couldn't find a single flaw in her. She was beautiful, funny, witty, clever, a great shot, and a fast runner. Still, she was my partner!

I pulled out my phone and called one of the few people that I completely trusted—My dad.

"What's up, Junior?" he greeted me.

"Not much. I just had dinner with my partner, Emma Callen," I told him.

"So, Livy's daughter is your new partner, huh? How's that working out for you, kid?" Dad wanted to know.

"Aw, hell, Dad! I thought I was doing so well! I hadn't broken any rules, or gotten into any scrapes. But now, I'm thinking that all of that is about to change?"

"Why?"

"Because I think she's making me fall for her," I admitted. "She's hot, Dad. And she's smart, and she's a hell of an agent."

Dad was silent for a moment. "Hang on, Junior. I'm going to get your mother on the line."

**EMMA'S POV:**

My talk with Mama did me good. She advised me not to flirt with Lee, but to be friendly and act normal around him. Her advice was to let him make the first move, and not to be too hasty in getting closer to him. I knew that I should listen to her, so I planned to do exactly that.

The next week at work passed easily. We caught our murderer and solved the case successfully. I tried not to notice how sexy Lee looked when he wore a French blue button-up, or how cute he looked when his hair had been disheveled by the hats we were required to wear at crime scenes. It was hard, but I did my best to keep my distance from him.

**LEE'S POV:**

After my talk with Dad, I felt much better about the situation at hand. He and Mom had advised me to gage Emma's behavior towards me, and let that me my guide. But, for the next week, she seemed to almost ignore me, as if she was afraid to let herself get to close. I assumed that this meant that she wasn't interested in me, so I stored my growing attraction away, hoping that one day she would warm to the idea.

Three weeks after Emma's arrival, we finally got the third and final member of our team, Agent Eric Grayson. He was quite the arrogant, ignorant rookie, and I was suddenly grateful for how humble and willing-to-learn Emma had been, and still was.

"My father was one of the greatest agents this place ever had," Eric bragged one day. "He served this agency for twenty-eight years, and he never took a bullet. Not once!"

I glanced over at Livy and saw her swallowing hard. From what little I truly knew of her, I knew that her father had been nearly killed several times, including once when she was about seventeen. Still, she kept her mouth shut, and didn't make any comment on Grayson's bragging.

"Eric, you've told us that at least six times since you joined the team," I reminded him.

"It's been seven," Emma corrected me, finally catching me and smiling a little. My heart leapt when she smiled at me, and I knew that there was no way I was ever going to be able to get rid of the rapidly-developing feelings I had.

"So! I bet neither of you guys' parents ever worked for NCIS, did they?" Eric scoffed.

I looked back at Emma, and we both nodded at the same time, jumping from our chairs and converging on Eric's desk.

"Actually," I said, "Emma's parents were both highly-valued NCIS agents for a specialized branch of the agency."

"And Lee's parents were both agents on Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs' team before his dad was given his own team," Emma told the junior agent. "And before that, his mother was Mossad."

Eric gulped and looked back and forth between the two of us. "Is that really true?" he wanted to know.

"Every bit of it," the boss confirmed, walking back into the bullpen with a cup of coffee in hand. For some strange reason, he drank the same disgusting type of coffee every day.

"Gear up," McGee told us all. "We've got a body."

**EMMA'S POV:**

I loathed Special Agent Eric Grayson, and I loved Special Agent Lee DiNozzo. I could have happily spent every moment of every day with Lee, and I would have killed myself if I had had to do that with the obnoxious, arrogant Eric Grayson.

After we processed the scene, Boss sent Eric and me out to talk to the wife of the dead sailor. It wasn't my first hard visit to a grieving widow, and I knew that it wouldn't be my last, but it was Eric's first.

"Don't say anything insensitive," I told him. "And let me ask most of the questions. You're strictly observing. Understand?"

"Relax, Em," he said, brushing my words away. "I'm a natural at this. And you've been on this job for what…three and a half weeks? Yeah, you're a real pro by now, I bet."

"Nevertheless," I growled. "I am still your senior agent."

"Only formally," Eric muttered as I knocked on the front door.

When I got back to NCIS headquarters, I jerked my desk drawer open and shoved my gun and badge in, and then sat down with a huff. Eric smiled tauntingly at me as he walked over to his desk.

"What did Eric do, Callena?" Lee wanted to know, using his pet name for me. I wasn't entirely sure when he'd come up with it, but I liked it.

"Eric," I said his name as if it were a nasty, bitter word, "decided to ask the grieving mother of three if she was having an affair!"

"Why did you do that?" Lee asked him, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"I thought she was hiding something," was Eric's simple reply. "Em was too scared to ask her."

**LEE'S POV:**

I was about to give Eric a lecture, but all of a sudden, Emma jumped up and stalked off toward the elevator.

"We'll talk later," I told the rookie agent as I jumped up to run after Emma. I managed to catch her just as the elevator doors began to close.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked her as the cart headed down.

"I can't take him anymore, Lee," she declared, burying her face in her hands. "He's driving me crazy, and if he calls me 'Em' one more time, I'm going to…" She looked up at me, and I saw that her face was streaked with tears.

"Hey, it's not worth crying over," I told her softly.

"I'm not crying over that," she insisted. "I'm…I'm so homesick."

Without realizing what I was doing, I pulled Emma into a warm hug, flipping the emergency switch on the elevator and shutting most of the lights off. "You're going to be fine, Emma," I assured her. "You're doing great!"

She shook her head, still crying against my jacket. "Sometimes I feel like I'm a kid carrying a badge and a gun," she sobbed.

"No, you're not." I raised her head up and looked deep into her bright blue eyes. "You're an amazing person, Emma."

Slowly, our faces moved closer together, and I knew that I was going to kiss her. Just before our lips touched, Emma turned away. "Not yet, Lee," she whispered. "Now…now isn't the time."

As much as I hated to admit it, Emma was right. We should wait. "Okay, but we have to find the time sometime soon, okay?"

She blushed and nodded. "Okay."

_**I'm sorry if I'm going to fast, but I just have to skip through some in order to get y'all to the romantic part without taking thirty chapters to do it!**_


	6. Chapter 6

**LEE'S POV:**

The next day, Emma came to work with a cheerful attitude. She greeted all of us, even Eric. I wasn't sure if it was because it was Friday, or if it was because she had played some mysterious trick on Eric that she hadn't told me about.

"Did you put extra sugar in your coffee this morning?" I asked her, eyeing her suspiciously.

"No," Emma said, shaking her head. "I didn't. And I didn't have Captain Crunch for breakfast, either."

"Fruit Loops? Coco puffs?" I asked her. "Something has made you very happy."

"Maybe I have a date tonight," she returned. "Did you think about that?"

I laughed and then grew suddenly silent. "Do you have a date?"

She just smiled at me. "Maybe. Maybe not."

All afternoon, I tried to figure out how to trick the answer out of Emma. Still, she wouldn't give up her secrets, and I was left to discern what her plans were on my own. Did she really have a date? I didn't want to think that she did, especially after our near-kiss the day before.

Still, I couldn't think about it as I left work that evening. She was a grown woman, and I had no right to pry into her personal life. Other than the fact that she was my partner, of course.

That evening, I drove to my parents' house in Alexandria. I was going to spend at least one night there, and maybe two. When I pulled into the driveway behind my dad's vintage Mustang and my mom's shiny red Mini Cooper, I noticed a very familiar looking Toyota Camry parked on the curb in front of the house. Surely Emma's big plans hadn't been coming here!

I walked in the back door, wiping my feet on the mat. "Mom! Dad!" I called. "I'm home!"

"We're in the living room, Junior!" Dad called to me. I could hear Mom laughing with someone, and I felt certain that the voice was Emma's.

Sure enough, she was sitting on the sofa next to my mom, poring over an old scrapbook.

"Is this really Lee when he was little?" Emma wanted to know. "Aw…he was such a chubby baby!"

"Mom! Again with the baby picture?" I whined. "I've told you about showing those to people."

"Hello, sweetheart," Mom greeted me, getting up and giving me a hug. "I am so glad that you are here!"

I kissed her cheek. "It's good to see you, too, Mom. Now, explain to me why you're showing my partner pictures of me when I was a kid."

"I wanted to see them," Emma replied truthfully. "Is big, bad, Leroy Anthony DiNozzo scared by someone seeing this pictures."

"They're embarrassing," I insisted, shaking hands with my dad.

**EMMA'S POV:**

I was amused by how embarrassed Lee was when he saw me looking at his baby pictures. He sat down in the chair across from me, and glared playfully at me.

"You're going to get me back for this, aren't you?" I asked him.

"Hell, yes!" he vowed.

"I am going to check on dinner," Ziva told us. "Why don't you get out the wine, baby," she asked her husband.

When they were gone, Lee came over and sat down beside me. "Why didn't you tell me that you were coming here?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I just thought it would be a nice surprise. Your mom called yesterday while you were in the bathroom, and I answered your phone for you. We talked for a few minutes, and she invited me to dinner."

"So you decided to increase my suspense, thereby ruining my weekend, just to end up at the same place I was going?"

I smiled. "Yes. But tell me, why would it ruin your weekend if I had had a date?"

Before Lee could reply, his father walked back into the room with wine glasses and a bottle of red wine. Lee just smiled at me, reaching over to turn the page slowly. His hand brushed against mine, and I shivered at the touch.

"This is my favorite picture," he told me, pointing to a picture of his as a toddler. He was kissing a little girl on the cheek. A little girl who looked a lot like me!

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Look at us. I don't even remember that."

"You were five, and Lee was four," Ziva told us, walking back into the room. "He adored you and would follow you around for hours on end."

Lee blushed, and I closed the book quickly. "So, is there anything I can do to help with dinner?" I asked, changing the subject quickly.

"No. The chicken parmesan will be out of the oven in just a few minutes," Ziva replied, pouring me a glass of wine and handed it to me. "It still amazes me how much you two have grown up. And how is your brother, Sam?"

"Sam's good," I told them. "He loves working with OSP. He's a natural, just like Dad."

"You didn't want to be an undercover operative?" Tony asked, sipping his wine slowly. "I thought that ran in your family."

"Sometimes the pressure can be too much," I admitted. "To be honest, NCIS was my second career choice."

"What was your first choice?" Lee wanted to know.

"I wanted to be a dancer," I admitted.

LEE'S POV:

Later that night, after dinner was over, I learned that Emma was spending the night, too. That was just what I needed! To have that beautiful, intoxicating woman in the same house with me overnight.

Mama and Daddy went to bed around eleven-thirty, but Emma and I stayed up talking on the couch for a while. She fascinated me, and I couldn't put my finger on what captivated me the most.

"If I have to put up with anymore smart remarks from Eric next week, I'm liable to kill him," Emma threatened when our conversation turned to work. "That guy is so irritating!"

"I don't like him having a nickname for you," I declared angrily. "He doesn't have any right to call you 'Em', especially when you don't like him to."

"You call me 'Callena,'" I reminded him. "And you never asked my permission to call me that."

I leaned a little bit closer to Emma, taking a deep breath. "May I call you that, Emma?"

She nodded, her eyes locked with mine. "Yes, you can. You can call me whatever you want, really."

Finally, I closed the gap between us and pressed my lips against Emma's. She melted against me instantly, looping her arms around my neck tightly. I pulled her closer, slipping my arms around her waist.


End file.
